Dreamchasers
by Allanna Stone
Summary: Bernadette Winters is a successful multi threat making her grand débuted on Broadway for the first time. When she saves Captain America and accidently reveals her hidden secrets, she finds herself becoming a member of the Avenger team.


**Dreamcatcher**

**I do not own Avengers or any of the songs.**

**SUMMARY:**

**Bernadette Winters is a successful multi threat making her grand débuted on Broadway for the first time. When she saves Captain America and accidently reveals her hidden secrets, she finds herself becoming a member of the Avenger team.**

Bernadette smiled as she tromped across the chilly street, thankful that she had thought to pack her scarf and mittens that morning. She was dressed in a black skater dress with a red military jacket, scarf and mittens, leather boots, and a beret on her head, with a leather backpack slung on her back.

"That was quite a rehearsal!" she chuckled to herself.

During rehearsals for _Phantom of the Opera_, someone bit goofy (and creative) and somehow or other filled the giant chandelier with glitter. So when it went up during the overtune number, several of the extras came out dressed in elf costumes and began to sing "Rocking around the Christmas Tree". Needless to say, Bill Waterfield, the director, had erased his face of its usual scowl and had belted out a giant laugh, something that had been deemed as an impossible task.

The twenty three year old multi threat was so engrossed in her own little world that she failed to notice what was going on around her until a loud roar jerked her from the clouds.

"Oh my…" she squeaked as she saw that she had stumbled across a war zone. The Avengers were all battling what looked like a giant snake, which had its body wrapped around a building. The snake hissed dangerously as Thor crashed his helmet down onto its head, making the snake madder than a hornet's nest that had been knocked about. She heard calls for help and saw that the snake's body was slowly crushing the building, which was a nursery, and that there were still people trapped inside.

Bernadette didn't even stop to think- she raced across the street, ducking inside the slowly crushing building to evacuate the trapped victims.

"Follow me!" she shouted as she hoisted a child onto each hip and began to weave her way out of the slowly collapsing building, stopping to help the kids climb over an obstacle in the way. "This way!"

Before she could breathe, they were outside. Bernadette led the children over to a policeman and handed them off before hearing another loud roar.

"Oh my…" she repeated daintily as the Hulk began to beat the snake to the ground. Not moments before the snake's head was bashed in did the building collapse, leaving Bernadette feeling shaken.

"Are you okay, ma'am?"

She looked up to see Captain America had his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine," she answered before looking at her pocket watch pendant and cursing inwardly at how late it was. "I should go- I have a full day tomorrow…"

She turned to go and stopped when she felt his hand on her shoulder once more.

"What you did was brave," awkwardly offered Captain America. She smiled shyly at him before hoisting her backpack up further onto her shoulder.

"It waz nothang," she muttered, embarrassed that her country twang was still evident in her voice. "I'm sure you've done braver,"

Captain America opened his mouth but was cut off by Iron Man shouting for help with something or other. Bernadette took that time to vanish into the crowd of spectators who had all come out of their businesses to see what had terrorized New York this time.

~xoXox~

"Rogers, did you notice anything odd about her?"

Steve thought back to earlier that evening when he had talked to the heroic young lady who had risked her life to save the nursery school kids.

"Aside from her purple eyes, no sir," he answered.

Director Nick Fury pulled up several snapshots of her. Most of them were taken from a distance, two or three of them were close ups, and the rest looked like she was in a stage production.

" Meet Alice O'Conner, AKA Bernadette Winters. She was raised in the small rural town of Storybookville, Maine, where she graduated from the local high school with straight A's. She is described as 'being kind to others, a quick learner, and a daring soul'. She could often times be found at the small theater where all the school productions would be held, working either behind the scenes or on the stage. She enjoys fairy tales of any kind and had produced a dozen shows, all based around the subject. A few years ago, she moved to New York to jump start her career as a multi threat for Broadway. She was hired the second she got off the plane and is now a successful Broadway superstar. Despite living in New York for three years, she still hadn't lost her country girl charm.

"As of lately, we've been keeping a close eye on her. Reason being because we have reason to believe she has powers. We know that she was adopted when she was just a few days old- her birth parents are unknown, so we have a dead end there."

"Her adopted parent's names are Andrew and Mary Scott- her brother's name is Jonathan. Bernadette and Jonathan are close friends and often do everything together- rock climbing, horseback riding, you name it- they did it."

"But why are you telling us this?" asked Natasha suddenly, iterupting the man halfway through his monologue.

"Because SHIELD has reason to believe that Miss O'Conner is in grave danger," he answered. He pressed the botton the on 3D projector and came up with a medical record. "When she was four years old, she fell out of a tree and shattered her shoulder and wrist. Three weeks later, she was healed with nothing to indicate that she had an injury. And she often obtained minor injuries and illnesses while growing up- a sprained ankle, an ear infection. Within days of visiting the doctor, she would be healed and out running about once more. Upon getting a blood sample, we found something interesting."

Fury handed out copies of the stapled packet to the team, who read it with different reactions.

"What the hell…" muttered Tony, scanning the papers with an interested eye.

"How can this be possible?" asked Bruce Banner, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes with his fingers.

"Can anyone translate?" asked Clint, looking at the packet in his hand.

"She was genetically engineered in the womb to become a deadly weapon, only when she was born, she displayed a fraction of the mutated cells that she was given," answered Fury grimly. "When she popped up on our radar eight years ago, we worked swiftly to get her away from the people she loved most in the world. It wasn't easy, so instead we sent in agents to protect her. When her graduated high school fsix years ago, someone came up with the idea of having her transferred to New York so that we could keep a closer eye on her. One of our agents, Bill Waterfield, is her boss and landlord and had been keeping an eye on her whenever she's not at her apartment or at work."

"And what does she do for a living?" asked Natasha, folding her arms across her chest.

Fury bought up several photos and playbills, which showed Bernadette as being a successful multi threat on Broadway and in a few movies.

"From an early age, she loved being in the spotlight," explained Fury.

"What do you want us to do?" asked Tony.

"Watch her when you can, make sure that no one tires to hurt her. If her life becomes endangered, then move her to Avenger tower pronto." Fury left the room, leaving everyone in deep thought.


End file.
